Textile dyeing apparatus



Jan. 13, 1959 w. s. JOHNSON 2,868,005

TEXTILE DYEING APPARATUS Filed July 27, 1956 EXPANSION TANK DYE K/ER INVENTOR WILLIAM S. JOHNSON ATTORNEY 2,868,005 TEXTILE DYEING APPARATUS William 5. Johnson, Salisbury, N. c.

Application July 1956, Serial No.-600,587

A 5 Claims: cries- 184 This invention relates to the fluid treatment of textile materials and more particularly to an apparatus for dyeing textile materials and incorporating manual or automatic control means for controlling the operation of the apparatus during dyeing operations.

This invention deals primarily with an apparatus for performinga dyeing operation which is commonly known in the art as raw stock dyeing. This refers to dyeing operations wherein yarn or other textile materials are placed in a suitable container, frequently termed a kier and a dye bath circulated through the textile materials in order to dye the same. Prior art dyeing apparatus for raw stock has commonly been provided with circulating pumps for circulating the dye bath from an expansion tank to the upper portion of the dye kier and downwardly through the kier to a return pipe through which the dye bath returns directly to the expansion tank. Control valves have also been included to control the flow of dye bath. These are strictly one way circulation systems with no provision for reversing the flow of dye bath and no provision for by-passing a portion of the dye bath directly back to the pump or circulating means while the remaining' portion flows through the expansion tank for mixing 7 United StatesPatent "ice with; the contents thereof and re-circulation to the dye -Wh'ile this prior art dyeing apparatus has, in certain instances, operated satisfactorily, nevertheless, the results obtained have in general, not been uniform and the color of 'the dyed materials has varied throughout such materialswith the result, that relatively large portions of the dye. lots have been rejected or it has become necessary to redye the same, which, of course, results in a material increase in cost of production. Furthermore, these prior art" dyeing machines have been extremely critical and diflicult to operate, in that the settings of the various control valves must be exact, in orderto produce satisfactory results andit has also proved impossible to predetermine the settings of the variousvalves and, as a consequence, operations of these prior art machines required the close attention of very highly skilled and trained operators. p p p The present invention involves a relatively minor modification of present dyeing apparatus and such modification may beconveniently made on existing machines or, of course, incorporated in new machines. With the inclusion' of the modification of this invention, it has been found. that operation of the dyeing apparatus becomes far less critical and that extremely satisfactory and uniform results have been obtained by the use of machines or dyeing apparatus .constructed in accordance with this invention. As a consequence,.the cost of production of dyed textile materials of the type under consideration has been materially reduced. It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for dyeing textile materials in which a portion .or all of the dye bathdischarged from the dye kier may be returned to an expansion tank in which such re- 2,868,005 Patented Jan. 13, 1959 turned dye bath mixes with the contents of such expansion tank and 'is re-circulated through the dye kier.

-A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for dyeing textile materials disposed in a dye kier and in which means is provided for controlling the degree of vacuum to which the materials are subjected during the dyeing operation.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for dyeing textile materials, which mate'- rials are disposed in a dye kier for circulation of a dye bath therethrough and in which a portion or all of such bath discharged from the kier is returned to an expansion tank where additional chemicals, water or dye may be mixed therewith and the solution re-cireulated through the dye kier.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for dyeing textile materials in which such materials are disposed in a dye kier for circulation of a dye bath therethrough there being provided a circulating pump and a by-pass conduit for conducting a portion of the dye bath discharged from the dye kier directly to the intake of thepump thereby imposing a vacuum on the materials in the kier.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for dyeing textile materials, which materials are disposed in a dye kier for circulation of a dye bath therethrough there being provided a circulating pump for circulating dye bath from an expansion tank to the dye kier and a discharge pipe from the dye kier to the expansion tank, together with a by-pass conduit connected between the discharge pipe and the intake of the pump there being control valves for controlling the flow of dye bath through'the discharge pipe to the expansion tank and through the by-pass conduit to the intake of the pump thereby controlling the vacuum to which the material in the dye kier is subjected.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunc tion with the accompanying drawing wherein:

The single figure of the drawing is a diagrammatic view showing an apparatus for dyeing textile materials and constructed in accordance with this'invention.

With continued reference to the drawing, there is shown a dye kier 10 which is of entirely conventional construction and is provided for receiving the materials to be dyed, which in the present instance are in the form of socalled raw stock. There is also provided an expansion tank 11 which is of conventional construction and serves to receive the dye bath or solution which may consist of the desired dye, certain chemicals and water or in fact, any suitable dyeing solution for the particular material being treated and the particular color desired. The ex pansion tank may also serve to add additional materials to the dye bath during the dyeing operation, if such is necessary or desirable in the particular process being utilized. As stated above, the dye kier and expansion tank are of entirely conventional construction and commonly used in the art and consequently, no detailed description thereof is considered necessary or desirable.

There is also provided a circulating pump 12 of any suitable conventional type and the intake of such pump 12 is connected to the lower portion of the expansiontank 11 through a feed conduit 13. The discharge outlet of the pump 12 is connected through a pipe '14 with the upper portion of the dye kier 10 and a valve 15 is disposed in the pipe 14 in order to control the flow of.-

in the return pipe 16 for controlling the flow of dye bath therethrough. A bypass conduit 18 is connected to the return pipe 16 between the valve 17 and the dye kier and the by-pass conduit 18 is also connected to the feed conduit 13 between the expansion tank 11 and the pump 12. A control valve 19 is provided in the bypass conduit 18 and the purpose of this Control valve will appear during the description of the operation of'the apparatus of this invention.

A dye bath overflow pipe 20 is also provided connecting the upper portion of the dye kier 10 with the ,upper portion of the expansion tank '11 and thereis provideda valve 21 in the overflow pipe 20 fortcontrolling the flow of dye bath therethrough and it is to be noted, that the valve 21 must be closed during operation of the apparatus.

In the operation of the above described apparatus for dyeing textile materials, such materials are disposed in the dye kier 10 in a conventional manner and a suitable dye bath or solution is placed in the expansion tank 11. The pump 12 is started and the valve 15 is adjusted to provide the desired flow of dye bath from the expansion tank 11 to the dye kier 10. With the valve 19 in the bypass conduit 18 closed and the valve 17 in the return pipe 16 open, the dye bath will flow from the dye kier through the return pipe 16 directly to the expansion tank 1 11 to be mixed with the contents thereof and re-circulated through the pump .12 and pipe 14 to the dye kier 10. This arrangement and operation is similar to that conventionally used in raw stock-dyeing operations. However, it'has been found that operation of the apparatus in this manner results in-inferior dyeing of the contents of the dye kier 10 and consequently, the valve 17 in the return pipe 16 and the valve 19 in the by-pass conduit 18 are adjusted or set so as to permit a portion of the dye bath flowing through the return pipe 16 to flow directly to the intake of the pump 12 to be re-circulated through the dye kier 10 and the remaining portion of the dye bath flowing through the return pipe 16 to pass directly to the expansion tank 11 to be mixed with the contents thereof and re-circulated through the feed conduit 13 and pump 12 to the dye kier 10. This results in the application of a vacuum induced by the pump 12 on the'textile materials in the dye kier 10 and the degree of vacuum may, of course, be determined by adjustment of the valves 17 and 19. This application of a vacuum to the textile materials in the dye kier 10 and the bypassing of a portion of the dye bath flowing through the return pipe 16 has resulted in the satisfactory dyeing of raw stock in a manner which has heretofore been impossible to consistently achieve. If desired, of course, the valve 17 may be closed and the valve 19 opened to an extent to permit the re-circulation of all of the dye bath flowing through the return pipe 16 which would result in subjecting the textile materials in the dye kier 10 to a high degree of vacuum. However, in normal practice, the valves 17 and 19 would .be adjusted, as described above, in order to by-pass a portion only of the dye bath flowing through the return pipe 16.

While the valves 17 and 19 have been shown and described merely as manually operated valves, nevertheless, if desired, such valves may be automatically controlled in any suitable or desired manner, but in either 'case there'is provided a continuous control of the dyeing operation at all stages thereof. As mentioned above, additional chemicals, dye or water may be added to the expansion tank 11 during the dyeing operation andthese, of course, will mix with whatever portion of the dye bath isreturned to the expansion tank during the re-circulation cycle.

The provision of the by-pass 18 and control valve 19 thereinhave resulted in providing an apparatus which will rapidly and satisfactorily dye textile materials of the type suitable for dyeing in an apparatus of this nature and-it has-been found that this apparatus provides extremely uniform and satisfactory results. Also the control of such apparatus is such, that the same may be operated by relatively unskilled personnel thereby materially reducing the cost of production. a

, It will be seen that by the above described invention there has been provided a .relatively simple, yet highly effective dyeing apparatus and one in which the improvements may be conveniently incorporated in existing apparatus or included in newly manufactured apparatus. In either case, the operation of the apparatus is the same and will provide the highly uniform and desirable results described above.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changesrmay be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for dyeing textile materials, said apparatus comprising a dye kier for receiving textile materials to be dyed, anexpansion tankfor receiving and supplying a dye bath to said kier, a circulating pump, a feed conduit connected from the -bottom of said expansion tank to the intake of said pump, a pipe connecting the dis? charge of said pump to the top ofsaid kier, a valve in said pipe ,to'control the flow of dye bath from said pump to said kier, a dye bath return pipe connected from the bottom of said kier to the bottom of said expansion tank, a second valve in said return pipe, a by-pass conduit connected to said return pipe between said second valve and ,said 1kier and to said feed conduit, a third valve in said ,by-pass conduit, a dye bath overflow pipe connectingthe upper portion .of said kier and the upper portion of said expansion tank and a fourth valve in said overflow ,pipe whereby said second and third valves may be set .to recirculate a portion of said dye bath directly from said return pipe to said bypass conduit and said pump to said kier, the remaining portion of said dye bath returning to said expansion tank for mixing with the contents thereof and re-circulation through said kier.

'2. Apparatus for dyeing textile materials, said appara tus comprising a dye kier for receiving textile materials to be dyed, an expansion tank for receiving and supplying a dye bath to said kier, a circulating pump, a feed conduit connected from said expansion tank to the intake of said pump, a pipe connecting the discharge of said pump to said kier, a valve in said pipe to control the flow of dye bath -from said pump to said kier, a dye bath return pipe connected from said kier to said expansion tank, a second valve in said return pipe, a by-pass conduit connected to said return pipe between said second valve and said kier and to said feed conduit, 2. third valve in said by-pass conduit, a dye bath overflow pipe connecting the upper portion of said kier and the upper portion of said expansion tank and a fourth valve in said overflow-pipe whereby said second and third valves may be set to re-circulate a portion of said dye bath directly from said return pipe through said by-pass conduit and said pump to said kier, the remaining portion of said dye bath returning to said expansion tank for mixing with the contents thereof and re-circulation through said kier.

3. Apparatus for dyeing textile materials, said apparatus comprising a dye kier for receiving textile materials to be dyed, an expansion tank for receiving and supplying a dye bath to said kier, a circulating pump, a feed conduit connected from said expansion tank to the intake of said pump, a pipe connecting the discharge .of said pump to said kier, a dye bath return pipe connected from said kier to said expansion tank, a valve in said return pipe, a by-pass conduit connected to said return pipe between said-valve and said kier and to said feed conduit, a second valve in said by-pass conduit, ,a dye bath ov erflow pipe connecting the upper portion of said kier and the upper portion of said expansion tank and a third valve in said overflow pipe whereby said first and second valves may be set to re-circulate a portion of said dye bath directly from said return pipe through said by-pass conduit and said pump to said kier, the remaining portion of said dye bath returning to said expansion tank for mixing with the contents thereof and re-circulation through said kier.

4. Apparatus for dyeing textile materials, said apparatus comprising a dye kier for receiving textile materials to be dyed, an expansion tank for receiving and supplying a dye bath to said kier, a circulating pump, a feed conduit connected from said expansion tank to the intake of said pump, a pipe connecting the discharge of said pump to said kier, a dye bath return pipe connected from said kier to said expansion tank, a valve in said return pipe, a by-pass conduit connected to said return pipe between said valve and said kier and to the intake of said pump, a second valve in said by-pass conduit, a dye bath overflow pipe connecting the upper portion of said kier and the upper portion of said expansion tank and a third valve in said overflow pipe whereby said first and second valves may be set to re-cireulate a portion of said dye bath directly from said return pipe through said by-pass conduit and said pump to said kier, the remaining portion of said dye bath returning to said expansion tank for mixing with the contents thereof and re-circulation through said kier.

5. Apparatus for dyeing textile materials, said apparatus comprising a dye kier for receiving textile materials to be dyed, an expansion tank for receiving and supplying a dye bath to said kier, a circulating pump, a feed conduit connected from said expansion tank to the intake of said pump, a pipe connecting the discharge of said pump to said kier, a dye bath return pipe connected from said kier to said expansion tank, a valve in said return pipe, a by-pass conduit connected to said return pipe between said valve and said kier and to the intake of said pump and a second valve in said by-pass conduit whereby said first and second valves may be set to re-circulate a portion of said dye bath directly from said return pipe through said by-pass conduit and said pump to said kier, the remaining portion of said dye bath returning to said expansion tank for mixing with the contents thereof and re-circulation through said kier.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,799,421 Hornbuckle Apr. 7, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 242,857 Great Britain Nov. 19, 1925 417,733 France May 26, 1910 538,544 Germany Nov. 14, 1931 744,418 Great Britain Feb. 8, 1956 

